You thought you were lucky to survive your high-speed collision with just a concussion. Yet weeks later, you couldn’t understand why you felt anxious all the time or why simple tasks exhausted you. Clearly, your ongoing symptoms suggest a brain injury more serious than just a temporary concussion.
You might not realize it now, but your brain injury actually affects more than just your physical health. It reaches into your mind and emotions too. To understand why these changes are happening, you first need to understand how your brain works.
How brain injuries impact mental health
The brain injury you sustained didn’t just damage your tissue. But it also disrupted the command center for your entire mental and emotional life. Thus, when trauma damages your brain, it can trigger several serious mental health conditions such as:
- Depression: You may feel persistent sadness or lose interest in activities you once loved.
- Anxiety disorders: Constant worry or panic attacks can emerge even in situations that never bothered you before.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder: Flashbacks and nightmares about the crash can haunt your daily life.
- Mood swings: You might experience sudden anger or emotional outbursts that feel beyond your control.
- Cognitive issues: Memory problems and trouble concentrating can make even simple tasks feel impossibly difficult.
These conditions are not a sign of weakness. Rather, they are real symptoms of damage to the primary organ that runs your entire emotional life. Understanding these conditions can help you see how they fit into your personal injury claims.
How this affects your personal injury claims
Suffering from mental health conditions typically turns your world upside down. You might miss work because of the debilitating anxiety that makes it hard to focus. Social activities you once enjoyed may feel overwhelming now. Even simple conversations can drain your energy significantly when your brain is working twice as hard to function normally.
Furthermore, your social relationships may suffer as your personality changes strain connections with family and friends. Thus, the person you were before might feel like a distant memory after your crash. These losses are real and deserve recognition in your personal injury claim.
Demanding compensation you are entitled to
Indiana law recognizes that mental health damages are real and compensable. You can seek compensation for the emotional pain, loss of enjoyment in life and reduced quality of life that you now experience. These claims fall under the non-economic damages in your personal injury claim.
Having professional legal counsel can help guide you how to demand these compensations that you are entitled to. They can help you document your mental health struggles and connect this to your brain injury. With proper compensation, you can access therapy, treatment and the support you need to reclaim your life and work toward healing.